A Work Permit Holder Is Missing: The Employer’s Seven-Day File

Answer first. Within one week of learning that a Work Permit holder is missing, the employer must file a missing-person police report and cancel the Work Permit, while preserving welfare and payment evidence.

Related reading: Work Permit address updates and short Work Permit extension.

Start with safety and facts

Confirm the worker is actually uncontactable, not on approved leave, in hospital, arrested, travelling or moved under an authorised arrangement. Contact the worker through known channels, the dormitory or registered residence and the emergency contact. Record times and responses. Do not publish personal details on social media or threaten the worker. If there is an immediate safety concern, contact the police promptly rather than waiting for an internal deadline.

Fix the knowledge date

MOM’s one-week period runs from knowing the worker is missing. Create a chronology showing the last confirmed contact, missed shift, welfare checks, escalation and the time a responsible manager concluded the worker was missing. Do not choose a later date simply because HR received the file late. Assign an owner and deadline for the police report and cancellation, and preserve evidence supporting the chronology.

File the police report

MOM requires a missing-person police report within the same one-week response. Provide accurate identification and last-known information, and keep the report reference. Share only necessary personal data with authorised recipients. Do not use the police report as a debt-collection threat or state that absence proves an offence. If the worker contacts the employer, update the police and MOM processes based on current facts.

Cancel through the correct route

Use myMOM Portal and upload the required supporting document. MOM’s cancellation page states that additional information is required for a missing worker and that levy is charged until one day before cancellation. Record the submission and outcome. Do not create a second application, mark the worker as having departed without evidence or continue assigning work after cancellation.

Track the security bond

For a non-Malaysian worker not found within one month from the cancellation date, MOM states that S$2,500, half of the S$5,000 security bond, will be forfeited for repatriation and related costs. Record nationality, cancellation date, one-month review date and communications. Do not describe forfeiture as an employee debt or deduct it from salary. Obtain advice on any recovery question.

Worked example

A construction worker misses two shifts and cannot be reached. The supervisor checks the approved leave list, dormitory, hospital contact and emergency contact, then escalates the same day. HR fixes the knowledge date, files a police report and cancels the Work Permit within one week using the actual missing-worker reason. It separately calculates salary already earned, monitors the bond date and updates the authorities when new information arrives.

Keep employment matters separate

MOM says employers should settle outstanding salary and employment issues before ordinary cancellation. A missing-worker case may prevent direct handover, but it does not erase earned salary, property, injury or complaint records. Preserve payslips, time records, belongings and contact attempts. Coordinate with the authorities and obtain advice on payment or property handling. The response file should show compliance without making unsupported allegations about why the worker disappeared.

How to use this guide

Start with the reader, decision and evidence identified above. Write the next action and owner beside every unresolved point, then set a review date. Keep authority-issued records unchanged and preserve earlier versions when a correction is made. If a fact, document or deadline does not fit the matrix, pause instead of forcing it into the nearest category. Official guidance can change, and a checklist cannot decide disputed facts or replace advice on a specific case. The strongest file shows what was known, when it was known, which source controlled the step and why the chosen action followed. Record every unresolved assumption, identify who can verify it, and never treat silence or a pending application as approval.

Decision and evidence matrix

Checkpoint	Evidence to verify	Stop condition
Knowledge	Last contact and welfare-check chronology	Do not delay the recorded knowledge date
Authority	Police report and MOM cancellation	Do not use an inaccurate departure reason
Aftercare	Bond, salary and belongings ledger	Do not deduct bond costs from wages

Primary sources checked for this guide

Source status was checked on 3 September 2026. Reopen the controlling page before acting because procedures and legal status can change.

• Ministry of Manpower: Notify MOM of updates: Work Permit, supporting Within one week of knowing a worker is missing, the employer must file a missing-person police report and cancel the Work Permit; a specified bond consequence applies to a non-Malaysian worker not found within one month after cancellation.
• Ministry of Manpower: Cancel a Work Permit, supporting Cancellation requires additional missing-worker evidence, stops levy one day before cancellation and does not remove outstanding salary and employment matters.

Authority and relationship disclosure. Little Big Employment Agency Pte. Ltd. is not affiliated with or endorsed by MOM, ICA, ACRA, MAS or IRAS. Contacting LBEA does not create a solicitor-client relationship.